Illustrative engagement. A representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work in publishing. It does not describe a specific client; outcomes are described qualitatively.
Industry overview
What is shaping publishing
Book, education and magazine publishers serve readers, teachers, schools and retailers, with print and digital formats side by side.
- Teachers and schools drive educational publishing
- Digital reading is growing alongside print
- Retail visibility affects sales
Client background
A publishing house, working in India. This is an illustrative engagement: a representative scenario showing how we approach this kind of work, not a named client project.
- Organisation
- A publishing house
- Sector
- Publishing
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- Web application development, UI/UX design
Client challenge
Manuscript submissions arrived by email and were hard to track.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: a submissions platform for authors.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
Scope: Platform.
Audiences we typically reach in publishing
ReadersTeachers and schoolsBooksellersAuthorsDigital readers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Submissions portal
- 3Insight
We built a portal for submissions, status updates and editor reviews.
Web application developmentUI/UX design
Sampling strategy
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Respect authors' time with clear status.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: respect authors' time with clear status.
- Track adoption and support tickets, and plan the next release from real usage.
Business impact
- Submissions were tracked clearly, and authors received faster responses.
Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: will readers pay for digital?